Baby scalded by hot wax at makeshift Buddhist prayer house in Sydney's south-west
Updated
A baby has been treated for burns after being scalded by hot wax at a makeshift Buddhist prayer house at Minto, in Sydney's south-west.
Police said the 11-month-old girl was scalded by wax when a tray of candles fell.
She suffered burns to her face, arms and legs.
The incident happened in the garage of a house on Haultain Street, about 10:00pm on Monday.
On arrival at the scene, paramedics treated the baby with cold running water before taking the child to Westmead Children's Hospital.
The baby's mother, 28, and father, 35, also suffered burns to their hands and feet and are being treated at Westmead Hospital.
Neighbour Karen Prime said there was a commotion after the incident.
"There was a lot of people running out onto the road screaming, I could see there was a child," Ms Prime said.
"They were running over to the tap trying to turn the hose on.
"The gentleman across the road actually saw the baby on the ground and he saw them hosing the baby off."
Prayer house not approved by council
The prayer centre is run by the Bangladeshi Australian Buddhists Society.
Ms Prime said the Buddhists were "peaceful people", but questioned whether the prayer house should be allowed to operate in the area.
"I don't believe that you should be able to have a prayer house in a residential area," she said.
"Maybe people will look into it and say it'd be better not having it here and having it somewhere else, in a more controlled area."
In a statement, Campbelltown Council's acting director of City Development Paul Curley said the property was not an authorised prayer house.
"The premises … is not approved by council as a place of public worship," he said.
"While there is a complaint history dating back to July 2016, intermittent monitoring of the subject property by council to date has failed to obtain sufficient evidence of unauthorised use.
"Council will continue to investigate allegations of unauthorised use of the premises."
Topics: fires, community-and-society, religion-and-beliefs, minto-2566, sydney-2000, nsw
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